#Shoptalk was a resounding success last week! It was an honor to speak from the main stage on what 15 years of Rent the Runway means to us and where we are going next!
CEO, Co-Founder and Chair of the Board at Rent the Runway
As we approach our anniversary next month, I’ve been reflecting on 15 years of lessons from building and leading Rent The Runway. Ironically, building RTR didn’t come from my desire to build a fashion business. It came from my deep passion for building a brand that could enable women to have it all. And it’s this mission that has sustained and motivated me through the rocky road of entrepreneurship. Looking back, I am floored that I’ve been able to build a movement, a company, a marriage, a family and a community at the same time. And I say this because, if I can do it, you can do it. Thank you to #Shoptalk for allowing me to kick off last week on its first ever female mainstage. Some lessons: Trust your gut, always: - There was no data in 2009 that ever could have predicted that just 15 years later MILLIONS of women would be renting clothes every year. In 2009, women didn’t rent clothing. Designers didn’t participate in the secondhand economy. But, I knew that rental would be a mainstream behavior. How? Because I trusted my gut. As RTR matured and reams of data became available, I felt increasing pressure to ignore my gut intuition and to only use the data to drive RTR’s strategic roadmap. I can tell you that this has been a mistake. When your gut and the data are at odds, listen to your gut. Have confidence that when you are truly innovating something new, there is no historical data that will give you the answer. You have to trust yourself. Re-hire Yourself - Every few years I force myself to approach my role at Rent the Runway as if I am a new CEO and coming into the company for the first time. New executives make changes. The benefit of running RTR for 15 years is that it's in my bones: I know every metric, every debate we’ve ever had inside and out. I can ensure we are staying true to our vision. The risk when you’ve been doing something for as long as I have, you may stop asking critical questions: Why do we do things this way? Why can’t we fix this broken experience? I'm approaching this year like I'm new here. It’s resulted in the most ambitious growth and innovation plan that we’ve had in years. By the end of our 15th year of business we hope to have introduced to our customers, and the world, an entirely new Rent the Runway that has even more meaning and resonance. Pace is the only thing that matters - no matter how smart you think you are, your ideas are going to be wrong over 50% of the time. Therefore, the only thing that matters is speed to launch. Our pace at Rent the Runway has always been fastest when we’ve empowered cross-functional teams around simple financial goals, enabled them to develop the roadmap, and implored them to launch something weekly. Typically, as an organization gets larger it stops operating in an agile manner. One of my goals for myself in 2024 has been to strip out the processes, meetings and even metrics within the company that don’t add value and do everything in my power to increase speed to launch.
Merchmix
1mo
Incredible insights from Jennifer Hyman on Rent The Runways journey and the power of intuition in innovation. Love the focus on re-evaluating leadership roles and pushing for speed in a growing organization.
Kelly Patchett
1mo
Jennifer Hyman - I love the concept of “rehire yourself” every few years - keep asking the critical questions to innovate and increase the pace of growth.
Such an inspiring reflection from Jennifer Hyman on 15 years of redefining the fashion landscape with Rent the Runway. The lessons on trusting intuition, re-hiring yourself, and keeping pace are spot-on for any innovator. Thank you, #Shoptalk, for highlighting such valuable insight, an exciting path ahead for Rent The Runway